As an engineer, I am interested
in the application of science to serve practical purposes. While not an overt
gadget freak I am a keen follower of technological advances. I am a member of
a number of professional organisations in order to stay informed:
The BCS
is the UK's leading professional organisation for the IT industry. Recently
it has started getting over its old-fashioned image.
The ACM,
although ostensibly the US equivalent of the BCS is in fact becoming much
more aware of and responsive to its non-US members. With many SIGs covering
different aspects of our industry it can provide good facilities, publications
and events. The main SIGs I belong to are SIGGRAPH
(graphics), SIGLINK (hypertext)
and SIGCOMM (communications).
The largest organisation
(in terms of number of members) is the IEEE
Computer Society, with a tremendously wide range of publications. As a
subgroup of the IEEE it has access to significant resources while having tremendous
autonomy. Many of the most frequently cited journals in the IT industry are
IEEE CS publications.
The UK equivalent
to the IEEE is the IEE, which is neither
as big or as wide-ranging as its US cousin. However they publish some of the
best UK IT journals.
Not only Renaissance man,
but a great thinker, artist, inventor and engineer. The background is Leonardo's
self portrait. There is a little more information on Leonardo at the Leonardo
da Vinci Museum.
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